A Young Sub-Neptune-sized Planet Sheds Light onto How Planets Form and Evolve

Check out the latest results from the HET! There was a press release about this fascinating discovery:

https://mcdonaldobservatory.org/news/releases/20200804

For those who want the technical information, see the accepted article on the pre-print server:  https://arxiv.org/abs/2007.12766

In short, this is a planet around a M dwarf in the Hyades cluster (so we know age and metallicity very well- both of which are tricky for M dwarfs), and is more massive  than expected- based on mass derived with HPF radial velocities. With multiple observations during transit we also have determined the spin-orbit alignment of this planet with the rotation axis of its star- which points to a well aligned orbit.
Great work to the HPF team, and the HET staff for another (massively) cool exoplanet discovery!

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